News by the HIV Justice Network

A year ago, in April 2015, the French National AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Council (Conseil national du sida et des hépatites virales, known simply as ‘CNS’) following extensive research into the law, nature of complaints and prosecutions, and their impact,…

The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a woman (known as ‘S.F.’) who did not tell her sexual partner that she was living with HIV before engaging in sex. At her original trial she was found guilty of…

The American Psychological Association (APA) has adopted an evidence-informed resolution on HIV criminalisation in the United States. It was developed with feedback from the APA Committee on Legal Issues and the HIV Medicine Association – who themselves issued a Policy…

Last Thursday, March 10th Senator Rene Garcia introduced an amendment in the Florida Senate to an amendment of a bill he was co-sponsoring (SB 314) to highlight the damage done to the HIV response by the state’s overly broad HIV…

Analysis: Canada’s newest sex offenders On March 1, a 29-year-old indigenous woman in Manitoba was sentenced to prison for the crime of aggravated sexual assault. More than four years ago, Marjorie Schenkels had sex without a condom with a friend…

Positive Life’s Communications and Policy Officer, Scott Harlum (pictured), explains why the organisation will advocate for changes to HIV disclosure requirements in the Public Health Act as part of the review. The Public Health Act is a key piece of…

On January 1st 2016, Switzerland’s Epidemics Act 2013 finally came into effect, which repeals and replaces the old Epidemics Act and in doing so, changes Article 231 of the Swiss Penal Code, which in the past has been used to…

Applications are now invited for participation in the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) 2016 online training course on the criminalisation of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure. Civil society, policymakers and service providers – including health care providers…

Pan-European Networks of communities of people living with and affected by HIV, doctors and scientists call upon the Government of the Czech Republic to immediately stop the Prague Public Health Authority’s persecution and intimidation of people living with HIV, and…

The second HIV is Not a Crime meeting, now a Training Academy, will take place between May 17 – 20, 2016 at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The Training Academy will unite and train advocates living with HIV and…

Late last month, Prague’s Public Health Authority initiated criminal investigations against 30 gay men living with HIV that had been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) during the previous year. The Public Health Authority appear to believe that since…

After a very successful inaugural HIV Is Not a Crime National Conference last year, the SERO Project and Positive Women’s Network-USA are pleased to announce that the planning process is underway for a second national conference to support repeal and…

Following a scoping consultation which ran from autumn 2014 to spring 2015, the Law Commission (of England and Wales) has now published its report containing their final recommendations to the UK Government. It recommends the adoption of a modified version…

New guidelines from the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC) are the first to highlight that HIV criminalisation is a critical barrier to optimising the HIV care continuum. Currently only half of people living with HIV globally are…

Last week, at the 15th European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) Conference in Barcelona, I presented a poster on behalf of the HIV Justice Network, that showed where the prevention benefit of treatment has impacted HIV criminalisation in Europe. The reality…

This week sees the release of an important new short film from the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Consent: HIV non-disclosure and sexual assault law interrogates whether criminalising HIV non-disclosure does what the Supreme Court of Canada believes it does –…

A new study presented to the International AIDS Society conference in Vancouver, Canada last week (IAS 2015) found that 44 per cent of participants within a research cohort of people who use injection drugs living with HIV in Vancouver would…

Following the prosecution and conviction of Michael Johnson, the US state of Missouri is now ‘ground zero’ for both overly broad HIV criminalisation and overly zealous law enforcement. Yesterday police arrested (and alerted media to) a man whose only ‘crime’…

Sero is a national network of people with HIV and allies fighting HIV-related stigma, discrimination and criminalization by engaging and empowering ourselves and others with HIV to speak and advocate, conduct original research, document the experiences of those criminalized, educate…

This week, thousands of HIV scientists and clinicians are meeting in Vancouver at the 8th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, also known as IAS2015. The focus is on ending the AIDS epidemic through new evidence…

Yesterday, Michael Johnson, 23, was sentenced to 30 1/2 years in prison after being found guilty on May 14th of five counts stemming from the accusations of three people who said he exposed them to the virus without their knowledge….

The UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights has updated its statement on HIV testing  — which continues to emphasise that human rights, including the right to informed consent and confidentiality, not be sacrifced in the pursuit of 90-90-90…

A new report from the World Health Organization, Sexual Health, Human Rights and the Law, adds futher weight to the body of evidence supporting arguments that overly broad HIV criminalisation does more harm than good to the HIV response. Drawing…

In January 25th of this year, a South African satirical news site, satirenews.co.za, published a ‘story’ headlined, ‘Law Passed: All HIV Positive People Would Be Marked Near Their Genitals’. The ‘story’ reads as follows: President Zuma signed a bill that seem…

Yesterday, Wednesday, June 3, the Sexual Offences Bill, sponsored by Senator Christiana Anyanwu, (pictured above) was passed by the Nigerian Senate. The new law contains a number of problematic provisions relating to “HIV or any other life threatening sexually transmitted…